First Cup of Coffee (Among Other Things)

Today I had my first cup of coffee... ever. It only seemed appropriate to have Colombian coffee with breakfast this morning. Of course I filled it milk and sugar. It was actually pretty good (still bitter, but I liked it more than I thought I would).

Communicating over breakfast was fun. Pastor Edgardo and Magi speak English too, but figuring out the vocabulary is like a big puzzle. He'd describe the word and I'd have to fill in the blanks. They are very fun people to be around! I had a wonderful time at breakfast.

Since there's some construction in the building I'm staying in we don't have any water today. So I headed to Maru's apartment to shower and get ready for the day. Maru is so interesting to be around and talk with. She has an incredible life story and I am so blessed to have a fast friend in Colombia.

We spent the day together touring the city. I got to see the barrio (neighborhood/ghetto) where Visionet does most of its work. From the mountain, I was able to get a great view of the city:

Maru pointed out one house in particular - Claudia's house. Claudia has seven children from infant to teenager. She is on her second marriage. She's only 34. Claudia is involved in Visionet's ministry. She is one who wants to be trained in Entrepreneurship so that she and her husband can provide for their family and hopefully move out of the barrio someday.

The stories are amazing. I'm going to share my tour of the city via pictures!

This is the view from the truck (sorry it's shaky) of one of the
houses. They are using all kinds of building materials (but
mostly brick. The houses up the mountain are basically shanty
houses. This community started about 20 years ago, but they
are still very much developing.

This is one of the churches that Visionet works with in the
barrio. They hold conferences and workshops on the roof
of the building.

The mountains create an interesting dynamic. The valley
between the mountains is where the wealthier people live,
so tucked into the mountains are all these tiny houses made
of tarps and sheet metal.

They mined some of the land on the mountain, making it entirely
unusable for agriculture or anything else for that matter. Visionet
is planning on training the community to do vertical agriculture in
the areas that are still available and lush. There are a number of
aquifers that are in and around the mountainside. Other than the
mined areas, it is a good place for small self-sustaining gardens.

Our tour continued to the land that Visionet is planning on buying for their non-profit, school, and church. One of their prayer needs is that God brings creativity in land planning because there are a number of historically or environmentally protected areas of the land God has planned for them.

On we went from there to a HUGE mall for lunch and walking around. I just have to say one thing, crepes are amazing. We went to a place called Crepes and Waffles. Apparantly, it was started as a master's thesis. The franchise only employs single women who are the heads of their households. When everywhere else is bustling for Mother's Day, they are closed and holding a party for their employees. The story, the food, and the ice cream were all incredible!

We window shopped for a little while so I could get a taste of Colombia before returning to the house for a relaxing evening. I'm still adjusting to the altitude shift and have some prep left for the conference starting tomorrow.

On an exciting note - a really cool opportunity opened up. Maru spoke with one of her friends who teaches college students preparing to be teachers and set up a time for me to go meet the students and spend some time talking about teacher prep and expectations in America. I'm really excited. God is opening up new opportunities every day! But more on that tomorrow.

Safely Arrived

After a very long day of flights, I arrived safely in Colombia. The airport was nothing like I expected! I had been warned that I would be searched many times for drugs before I got out of the airport, but no one stopped me once. I didn't even see any guards with guns.

I went through customs and got my bag in about 10 minutes, way faster than I figured it would be. When I was leaving, the guard took my customs form and let me know that the address it was asking for was the one I'd be at in Colombia. Well I didn't know that information! The guard, who didn't speak any English, was very nice to me and just let me go through.

Walking out the door to the sea of waiting faces was a bit overwhelming. I walked up and down the crowd a couple of times looking for a sign with my name. Nothing. No one so much as looked like they were waiting for an American girl.

After my moment of panic, and about 5 minutes, I met Ana Maria and Sarah. They were wonderful. Ana Maria's English was great! We talked about all kinds of things. It turns out that Thursday is the Colombia version of Earth Day. No cars are allowed to be on the road, only public transportation. She told me all about Bogota and her mom drove us back to the house where I'll be staying with Pastor Edgardo and his wife Magi.

Driving through the city was really interesting. Parts of the city are as developed as the United States, and parts look like a third world country. It's such a diverse environment. Truly in the midst of developing. (As an aside, the best restaurant I saw was side by side - Pollo Pollo next to Pizza Pizza.)

When we arrived at the house, I was blown away by how beautiful it is. Here are some pics:

The view of the sea of apartment complexes in Bogota. Apparently, they
categorize people's social class on a number scale from 0-7. This area is a 4.

The house I'm staying is is more beautiful than a hotel would have been.

There's even a balcony garden across the street from my room.

It was a very very very long day, so I went to bed pretty soon. God blessed Kevin and I with the ability to talk before bed. It was wonderful to be able to say goodnight. What a great night's sleep! I slept like a rock. Praise God!